TROOPS tasked to augment police checkpoints and visibility operations across the country have been directed to strictly uphold human rights and the rule of law.
“The guidance is of course to follow and strictly observe human rights, rules of law and the procedures in the conduct of checkpoint,” deputy commander Col. Vic Tomas of the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) said in an interview Friday.
Some 200 officers and enlisted personnel of the unit have been deployed to five Metro Manila police districts.
Tomas said they also have a standby force to help the police in possible contingencies.
“We would like to inform everybody that they should feel safe with the presence of both police and military. They have nothing to fear as this is not martial law,” he added.
Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo earlier reminded troopers not to touch or open any vehicle or order its occupant to alight.
Checkpoints must also be well-lighted and personnel manning them must be in full uniform.
Baggage can only be inspected if the owner or passenger gives permission, he added.
Arevalo warned that failure to comply with these reminders could result in the filing of administrative sanctions and other charges.
“We would like to ensure that as we respond to the Commander-in-Chief’s call for the AFP to help suppress lawless violence in Mindanao and prevent its spread in other areas of the country, the execution of our tasks will always be proper and with due regard to every citizen’s entitlements under the Bill of Rights,” he pointed out.
A “state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao” was declared by President Rodrigo Duterte in the aftermath of the Sept. 2 bomb blast in Davao City that killed 15 and wounded 70 persons.
“We would like to enlist the willing cooperation of our ‘kababayans’ [compatriots] in this endeavor to suppress lawless violence and prevent the spread of similar violent incidents in other parts of the country,” he said.
